Awoke with a crescendo of pain in my jaw from the tooth that had already given me problems back at the beginning of September.
It had begun to flare up again over the weekend and yesterday, I'd managed to get an emergency appointment for tomorrow. Today, I did not think I would last that long. Fortunately, after frantic requests for any solution, whether with my dentist or not, I was slotted in today – I just had to last till the afternoon.
Alternating paracetamol and ibuprofen was part of the bridge to get there, the other was distraction by work and a short visit to the first session of the term to the Chinese brush painting classes.
Ms Kenny, my dentist, ushered me in sympathetically and established that the most likely cause was an infection and that the solution would be root canal treatment. Seeing as it was a premolar with three or even four roots, this would be at least an hours treatment – with additional equipment, by one of the other practice dentists – in a fortnights time!
But how to manage the pain? I left with a set of antibiotics (a necessary procedure before root canal treatment) and a recommendation to continue with the painkillers. Rather than amoxixillin, this time it is a course of metronidazole.
So far the pain has been reduced to a bearable level by the constant presence of painkillers, though I am not looking forward to waking up tomorrow after they have worn off and before the effect of a morning pill kicks in.
The advantage of Metronidazole is that it is effective against, amongst other things, anaerobic bacteria, such as those likely to be involved in gum and tooth roots. The list of possible side effects is not reassuring and I'm particularly hoping that convulsions will not arise.
A particular source of macabre amusement is that use of metronidazole in animal feed has been banned in the EU and US as a potential carcinogen. The inconclusive results of human studies suggest that in human's at least, the real benefits outweigh the nebulous risk. Source Wikipedia.
Showing posts with label health. Show all posts
Showing posts with label health. Show all posts
Tuesday, 18 October 2011
Saturday, 15 October 2011
Useful photographic software and trepanning
I woke briefly with the aura of an impending migraine, took some tablets and slept again until the medication took hold.
Yesterdays photographs at Ely Cathedral included a range of images either taken at different focal depths, e.g. of carved figures around a column, or of a scene such as a stained glass window taken at a range of exposures so that the series would capture all the detail in both the darkest areas and lightest ones.
These two different series would be used to create composite images using some extremely useful software. However, I needed to transfer and activate licensed software from my old PC for these programs on my new PC and that was a key task undertaken today.
The most important software is Helicon Focus, used to create a focus stack. A problem commonly experienced with photography, especially macro-photography and microscopy, is that when areas in the foreground are in focus, the background is not and vice versa. Whilst this can be used to great effect to achieve an emphasis of one subject, by making sure it is the only one in focus, in other instances you actually want a whole area to be in focus.
When it is critical to have more of an object in focus than can be achieved with a single photo, I ensure that the camera is fixed and then take a series of photos, changing the focus from front to back in incremental steps. With Helicon focus I can then combine all the images together and create an final image where only the elements that are in focus are used from each serial image.
The second software is Photomatix. It can combine images of different contrast range to create a High Dynamic Range (HDR) photo which reveals all the detail.
Our eyes and brain are brilliant at looking at a scene where there are very bright and very dark areas. Imagine yourself on a path in a wood in bright sunlight – you can see detail in the shady areas AND the bright areas. Cameras have a much lower contrast range, meaning that if you expose to reveal the detail in the brightest area, the shadows are black without detail – and vice versa.
With Photomatix, I photograph a scene from a fixed position (tripod) over a range of bracketed exposures and then combine these in Photomatix to create an HDR image.
In the evening, during the judging of Strictly Come Dancing, I started reading Northern Lights by Philip Pullman. One of the curious minor story threads is the use of trepanning or trepanation – the drilling of holes in the skull and allowing them to heal – for spiritual or health reasons.
I'd seen a skull displayed in the International Museum of Nubia in Aswan showing a skull with an accompanying X-ray where there was lesion that I thought was a trepanation that had healed over.
Trepanning or trepanation had been part of human culture for at least 7000 years, starting with a neolithic skull found in Ensisheim, France, and in Chinese, Ancient Egyptian, Greek, Arabic and European skulls. Approximately 6% of Inca and pre-inca skulls had been trepanned, with a suggested survival rate of over 60%.
There is a small group of individuals who actually self trepan to the present date.
Reasons for trepanning include the obvious medical – to repair skull damage or antique beliefs that it helped with curing migraines or epilepsy. However, there may also have been trepanning for spiritual reasons.
The current rationale for trepanning in the absence of medical necessity is to increase brain activity with the explanations that it might help by allowing the brain to expand or increasing oxygenation of the brain. No medical evidence for these exists to date.
Whilst I am a migraine sufferer, I will not be taking up trepanation!
Two interesting links : Wikipedia and An illustrated history of trepanation.
Yesterdays photographs at Ely Cathedral included a range of images either taken at different focal depths, e.g. of carved figures around a column, or of a scene such as a stained glass window taken at a range of exposures so that the series would capture all the detail in both the darkest areas and lightest ones.
These two different series would be used to create composite images using some extremely useful software. However, I needed to transfer and activate licensed software from my old PC for these programs on my new PC and that was a key task undertaken today.
The most important software is Helicon Focus, used to create a focus stack. A problem commonly experienced with photography, especially macro-photography and microscopy, is that when areas in the foreground are in focus, the background is not and vice versa. Whilst this can be used to great effect to achieve an emphasis of one subject, by making sure it is the only one in focus, in other instances you actually want a whole area to be in focus.
When it is critical to have more of an object in focus than can be achieved with a single photo, I ensure that the camera is fixed and then take a series of photos, changing the focus from front to back in incremental steps. With Helicon focus I can then combine all the images together and create an final image where only the elements that are in focus are used from each serial image.
The second software is Photomatix. It can combine images of different contrast range to create a High Dynamic Range (HDR) photo which reveals all the detail.
Our eyes and brain are brilliant at looking at a scene where there are very bright and very dark areas. Imagine yourself on a path in a wood in bright sunlight – you can see detail in the shady areas AND the bright areas. Cameras have a much lower contrast range, meaning that if you expose to reveal the detail in the brightest area, the shadows are black without detail – and vice versa.
With Photomatix, I photograph a scene from a fixed position (tripod) over a range of bracketed exposures and then combine these in Photomatix to create an HDR image.
In the evening, during the judging of Strictly Come Dancing, I started reading Northern Lights by Philip Pullman. One of the curious minor story threads is the use of trepanning or trepanation – the drilling of holes in the skull and allowing them to heal – for spiritual or health reasons.
I'd seen a skull displayed in the International Museum of Nubia in Aswan showing a skull with an accompanying X-ray where there was lesion that I thought was a trepanation that had healed over.
Trepanning or trepanation had been part of human culture for at least 7000 years, starting with a neolithic skull found in Ensisheim, France, and in Chinese, Ancient Egyptian, Greek, Arabic and European skulls. Approximately 6% of Inca and pre-inca skulls had been trepanned, with a suggested survival rate of over 60%.
There is a small group of individuals who actually self trepan to the present date.
Reasons for trepanning include the obvious medical – to repair skull damage or antique beliefs that it helped with curing migraines or epilepsy. However, there may also have been trepanning for spiritual reasons.
The current rationale for trepanning in the absence of medical necessity is to increase brain activity with the explanations that it might help by allowing the brain to expand or increasing oxygenation of the brain. No medical evidence for these exists to date.
Whilst I am a migraine sufferer, I will not be taking up trepanation!
Two interesting links : Wikipedia and An illustrated history of trepanation.
Tuesday, 30 August 2011
Another visit to the dentist
Sleep was delayed last night due to a swelling pain in my jaw around the teeth repaired during my last dental visit a week or so ago. Whilst it disappeared overnight and I awoke painfree, the niggling telltale signs of trouble were there within the hour.
The dentist, Ms Kenny, found an appointment for me at 12 and determined that the problem was not with the teeth itself, but likely a tenderness or even infection of the gum. I was given reassurance and a pack of antibiotics to use if the situation did not remedy itself naturally. By the evening, I succumbed to the waxing and waning pain and took a first antibiotic.
The rest of the afternoon had been spent in preparing and packing my suitcase for the imminent trip to Egypt tomorrow with Miss T.
The dentist, Ms Kenny, found an appointment for me at 12 and determined that the problem was not with the teeth itself, but likely a tenderness or even infection of the gum. I was given reassurance and a pack of antibiotics to use if the situation did not remedy itself naturally. By the evening, I succumbed to the waxing and waning pain and took a first antibiotic.
The rest of the afternoon had been spent in preparing and packing my suitcase for the imminent trip to Egypt tomorrow with Miss T.
Friday, 10 June 2011
Meetings and traditional sausages
Yesterday's The Inspired Group meeting had generated a new idea that continued fermenting in the hours before sleep. Almost the first task of the day was to encapsulate the idea and its ramifications into a document that was then sent off for consideration, in confidence, by both Mr Wishart and a further contact. The internet conspired against me by failing temporarily, thus delaying my departure for the weekly Huntingdonshire Business Network meeting.
Fortunately, my journey to Huntingdon was without incident, though I noted with some concern, the sudden cessation of flow and the rapidly growing queues on the other carriageway once past the Godmanchester exit. Arriving at the HBN venue of the Indoor Bowls Club, I was delighted to see Ms J Buck, a ray of light amongst business people through her radiant smile, dynamism and dedication to her successful Aloe Vera business. Just passing by, I was fortunate to see her before she departed for another meeting.
Today's topics ranged from promoting tourism in Huntingdonshire, over the best e-book reader, including feedback and impressions of yesterday's TIG meeting. I hit a technical hitch trying to convert a document with a colour image into mobi e-book format for Ms Ekblom; a task I tackled in the evening, finding that failure appeared to be the paucity of text in the initial attempt as subsequent trials with additional text functioned perfectly.
After HBN, on to Over for Tutorcloud. Mrs Farndale had brought along the business cards printed according to my design, which had turned out well. Joined by Mr Beal and Ms Heeneman, we progressed through the procedural mechanisms underlying the continued development of the matchmaking site.
I spent some time afterwards in conversation with Mr Beal and minor troubleshooting of the Cambridge Open Studios blog functionality.
On the way home, I stopped off at the Rose farm in Swavesey to purchase sausages from the last batch of pork to be prepared before Autumn, coming away with Lincolnshire and Old English pork sausages to freeze at home.
Volcanic activity appears to the the rage as there were news pictures of increasing lava activity in Hawaii. A detailed article in the Berliner Morgenpost http://www.morgenpost.de/web-wissen/article1668413/Lueckenlose-Indizienkette-weist-zu-Bio-Sprossen.html on the E. coli outbreak reports that the accumulated evidence from epidemiological studies poitns to the bean sprout producer in Bienenbuettel, Lowe Saxony. Infection clusters and photographic evidence of meals in pictures taken by restaurant visitors all contributed to the evidence.
Our region of East Anglia has been officially declared to be in a drought, though there was no threat to water supplies as yet.
Fortunately, my journey to Huntingdon was without incident, though I noted with some concern, the sudden cessation of flow and the rapidly growing queues on the other carriageway once past the Godmanchester exit. Arriving at the HBN venue of the Indoor Bowls Club, I was delighted to see Ms J Buck, a ray of light amongst business people through her radiant smile, dynamism and dedication to her successful Aloe Vera business. Just passing by, I was fortunate to see her before she departed for another meeting.
Today's topics ranged from promoting tourism in Huntingdonshire, over the best e-book reader, including feedback and impressions of yesterday's TIG meeting. I hit a technical hitch trying to convert a document with a colour image into mobi e-book format for Ms Ekblom; a task I tackled in the evening, finding that failure appeared to be the paucity of text in the initial attempt as subsequent trials with additional text functioned perfectly.
After HBN, on to Over for Tutorcloud. Mrs Farndale had brought along the business cards printed according to my design, which had turned out well. Joined by Mr Beal and Ms Heeneman, we progressed through the procedural mechanisms underlying the continued development of the matchmaking site.
I spent some time afterwards in conversation with Mr Beal and minor troubleshooting of the Cambridge Open Studios blog functionality.
On the way home, I stopped off at the Rose farm in Swavesey to purchase sausages from the last batch of pork to be prepared before Autumn, coming away with Lincolnshire and Old English pork sausages to freeze at home.
Volcanic activity appears to the the rage as there were news pictures of increasing lava activity in Hawaii. A detailed article in the Berliner Morgenpost http://www.morgenpost.de/web-wissen/article1668413/Lueckenlose-Indizienkette-weist-zu-Bio-Sprossen.html on the E. coli outbreak reports that the accumulated evidence from epidemiological studies poitns to the bean sprout producer in Bienenbuettel, Lowe Saxony. Infection clusters and photographic evidence of meals in pictures taken by restaurant visitors all contributed to the evidence.
Our region of East Anglia has been officially declared to be in a drought, though there was no threat to water supplies as yet.
Monday, 30 May 2011
Microscopic life in marine tank and the German outbreak of EHEC E. coli
I spent the evening at the microscope, studying both the PMS box ready for despatch and a sample of the debris at the bottom of the marine tank.
The tank sample was buzzing with activity with a range of organisms from different groups represented.
News from Germany via family is, that people are very concerned about an E. coli outbreak, referred to as EHEC in German, from “enterohaemorrhagic E. coli”. It is a strain that has a high infectivity, with as few as 100 bacteria sufficing, and produces shiga like toxin which causes severe diarrhoea and can be fatal. It appears to be similar to the E.coli known as O157:H7, which has caused outbreaks in the UK, for example in 2009. The German strain is O104 according to the Hamburg Health Ministry.
The bacteria are spread via fecal contamination, usually of meat. However, the German outbreak has been attributed to contaminated organic cucumbers originating from Spain, Malaga and Almeira. Shiga and shigla like toxins are genes carried by prophages (viruses of bacteria that integrate into the host). They act like the toxin ricin by inhibiting protein synthesis.
As of 2am Tuesday 31st May, the most recent UK Food Standards Agency news item is from 27th May and states that there is currently no evidence that cucumbers have come into the UK from those companies that supplied infected cucumbers to German.
Relevant articles can be found here:
The tank sample was buzzing with activity with a range of organisms from different groups represented.
- Crustaceans – very small but several present in a drop of water
- Nematodes – at least one species
- ciliates – several species, the most abundant being an ovoid motile version that possibly contained photosynthetic material
- Amoebae – both monopod and multiple pseudopodia varieties seen
- Blue green algae – abundant
- Diatoms – both elongated rhomboids and chained versions
- Filamentous bacteria
News from Germany via family is, that people are very concerned about an E. coli outbreak, referred to as EHEC in German, from “enterohaemorrhagic E. coli”. It is a strain that has a high infectivity, with as few as 100 bacteria sufficing, and produces shiga like toxin which causes severe diarrhoea and can be fatal. It appears to be similar to the E.coli known as O157:H7, which has caused outbreaks in the UK, for example in 2009. The German strain is O104 according to the Hamburg Health Ministry.
The bacteria are spread via fecal contamination, usually of meat. However, the German outbreak has been attributed to contaminated organic cucumbers originating from Spain, Malaga and Almeira. Shiga and shigla like toxins are genes carried by prophages (viruses of bacteria that integrate into the host). They act like the toxin ricin by inhibiting protein synthesis.
As of 2am Tuesday 31st May, the most recent UK Food Standards Agency news item is from 27th May and states that there is currently no evidence that cucumbers have come into the UK from those companies that supplied infected cucumbers to German.
Relevant articles can be found here:
- http://www.hpa.org.uk/NewsCentre/NationalPressReleases/2011PressReleases/110527GermanEcoliupdate/
- http://www.hs.fi/english/article/Food+Safety+Authority+Spanish+cucumbers+infected+with+EHEC+have+not+been+imported+into+Finland/1135266532095
- http://www.bild.de/news/inland/ehec/identifiziert-18094752.bild.html
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shiga_toxin
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